Windows MCE 2005 Calibration Video

[sixdoubleo]

I really liked the calibration video in MCE2005. (The one with the black shirt and tie, etc).

How can I run this on a plain old XP or Vista system to calibrate my monitor? Is it a single video or executable I can run? (I own MCE 2005 and have the media and a valid license, by the way)

[stanger89]

You could always run these:
http://www.w6rz.net/

[sixdoubleo]

Thanks Stanger...although I must admit that I don't know what to do with the majority of that stuff.

Is there a dumbed down version? This actually isn't for Sage or even HT stuff. Just got me a new 24" desktop monitor and wanted to set brightness, contrast, and colors.

[Menehune]

That's easy! Just set all controls to their maximum level!

Since I have a color calibration DVD with a blue filter, I use a color bar pattern on my desktop to adjust the colors (saturation and hue) and brightness. I typically use a white square on black background to adjust the brightness so the video doesn't "bloom" (too white) and a greyscale pattern to set the black levels so there is not too much detail lost in the blacks.

Actually, my last LCD panel (a dell 20" widescreen) I just plugged in and used the factory defaults since I was mainly using it for web browsing and not doing any photo editing on the system.

[sixdoubleo]

Originally Posted by Menehune

That's easy! Just set all controls to their maximum level!

Since I have a color calibration DVD with a blue filter, I use a color bar pattern on my desktop to adjust the colors (saturation and hue) and brightness. I typically use a white square on black background to adjust the brightness so the video doesn't "bloom" (too white) and a greyscale pattern to set the black levels so there is not too much detail lost in the blacks.

Actually, my last LCD panel (a dell 20" widescreen) I just plugged in and used the factory defaults since I was mainly using it for web browsing and not doing any photo editing on the system.

That's how it came and I can't stand it!

Yeah, I actually have the Video Essentials calibration DVD which I could use....in fact Stanger's link above has a few pieces from that DVD. I just thought the MCE video was a nice quick calibration tool for dummies to get you in the ballpark.

I upgraded from a Viewsonic 22" to a Samsung 24" and instantly I could tell the Samsung was way too bright with way too much contrast. Not only that, they had done something with the colors because my Royale Noir XP theme looked very brown. Also, playing Counterstrike I could tell the colors were not what I'm used to.

If I can't get a hold of the MCE video, I'll probably just run Video Essentials and run the black/white bar pattern and maybe do the Red, Blue, Green screens with the colored transparent film....and leave it at that.

[stanger89]

Sorry I didn't reply right away, I wasn't sure which ones to point you at.

Basically all you need to do on today's digital displays, when using Component/VGA/DVI/HDMI input is to fire up "ramp.ts" and adjust the brightness so the black bars outside of the dots blend together, and contrast so that the white bars outside the dots blend together*.

Beyond that there's really not a lot you can do without some sort of test equipment (eg Spyder2/3/Eyeone/Optical/etc).

*you may actually want to leave the "above white" visible to prevent clipping in scenes with above white.